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Monday, April 11, 2011

Saying `no' to raising the debt ceiling

Most responsible members of Congress seem to agree that raising the debt ceiling will be absolutely vital. But they're going to have to overcome sentiment like this, as expressed by one U.S. Senator:

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here.” Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

Oh, you know the punch line already, don't you? That was then- Sen. Barack Obama speaking on the floor of the Senate on  March 20, 2006.  When Jake Tapper of ABC tried to turn this into a gotcha moment during a White House news conference a few months ago, Obama's press secretary had an explanation:

Raising the debt limit was not in question in the outcome (of the vote, which was 52-48)....(Then-Sen. Obama) used (the debate) to make a point about needing to get  serious about fiscal discipline....I think clearly he was sending a message. 

He will hardly have grounds to complain, then, when GOP lawmakers grandstand on the precipice this time.


Comments

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EZ, it's posts like this that lead me to admire your integrity.

This is just part of the larger picture, which is that the deficit is a built-in excuse that politicians of all stripes can use to push pretty much any agenda they like. Of course, the right does this more often, simply because they're less responsible with their rhetoric.

Why is raising the debt ceiling "responsible"?

The debt is already four times the annual budget, which itself is $1.5 trillion more than the federal income. A family in that position would have little choice but to declare bankruptcy. Not only do we suck up a disproportionate share of the world's resources, we grab more than our share of its investment capital, too.

Raising the debt ceiling just allows us to continue the behavior that got us to this position. Obama was absolutely right in 2006; let's see if he, and the 535 people in Congress, have the guts to be right in 2011.

If the Republicans are smart, they'll run President Obama against former Senator Obama in the upcoming elections.

@Wendy - Why don't you just admit you were duped in 2008? Guantanamo, Extrordinary rendition, wiretaps, military tribunals, Bush tax cuts, Libya....you realize you voted for George Bush, right?

Jim C.,

So are you going on record against all your fellow conservatives who still screech about Obama being a "dangerously far-left liberal SOCIALIST!!!"?

And as they raise the debt ceiling, we'll have lots of Republicans saying the same things about Obama. And many will be the same Republicans who voted to raise the debt ceiling 10 times since 1997.

The only question that remains is how much will the spineless Democrats give away this time to get the working class hating Republicans to get onboard (enough, at least, to raise that ceiling).

Another great moment from Obama's senate career. Bold and courageous words when nothing was on the line.

Dienne: Obama is governing like a moderate because reality has mugged him into doing so.

That's my point, Jim. What do the Republicans have to use against Obama when he's continued almost every program started by his predecessor?

Wendy, maybe you and Dienne should have voted for McCain. He certainly wouldn't have broken as many campaign promises. Last thing I saw, Guantanamo was still open for business.

Bullsh--, MCN, Obama hasn't been mugged by anything. He's governing the way he wants to because of who his actual constituency is (which is quite a bit different than the "constituency" who voted him into office).

As for voting for McCain, (a) I couldn't be responsible for putting Palin a heartbeat (a very old heartbeat) away from the presidency; (b) as much as Sotomayor and Kagan are piss-poor choices, they're a lot better than the Scalito clone that McCain would have appointed; and (c) Obama has accomplished a few trifles that McCain wouldn't have bothered with - for instance, as galling as it was when Obama extended the Bush tax cuts, at least he did so in exchange for extension of unemployment benefits and a few other trifles; McCain would have extended the tax cuts and who gives a rat's patoot about all those lazy unemployed people, anyway, right?

It's a tiny nail, but it's what I hang my hat on. And I hope that someone will come along and save us from ourselves so that my daughters can have a future. I guess that would be called the audacity of hope.

@Dienne,

"as much as Sotomayor and Kagan are piss-poor choices..."

Huh? As a liberal, you are not satisfied with Sotomayor and Kagan? Are there any judges alive who are farther to the left than those two? What do you disagree with them on?

---Not to fear, people! Obama now regrets his vote in 2006!!! His press secretary said so just today, just in time to try to force others to do what he wouldn't, because he's rather posture and preen.

Just saw something on hotair.com -- this is his THIRD explanation for the vote. Have to wait to see which way the political winds are blowing, and change the reasoning accordingly. http://hotair.com/archives/2011/04/11/jay-carney-obama-totally-regrets-his-2006-vote-against-raising-the-debt-ceiling/

Dienne, You forgot Don't Ask, Don't Tell, in my opinion the one thing he's done that I can absolutely support 100%.

Dienne: Sotomayor a bad choice? Seriously? Why--be because once in a while she sent a guilty criminal to jail? Is Kagan too centrist for you? I think only a tenured professor from Bard College would satisfy your notion of justice.

Dienne:

Please be honest. If the mainstream is 100 yards wide and dead center is the 50 yard line -- where are you and where is BHO.

JerryB, I think, seen from the perspective of the west stands at Soldier Field, Dienne would be somewhere around Wilmette.

DaveB & Dienne:

I like Dienne because she has a type of quirky integrity that I admire.

Once before I asserted that my impression was that Dienne’s row boat was about 2 feet from the left bank. She strongly disagreed. This left me wondering if she thinks that she resides on the fifty yard line. When she posts she conveys the image that the rest of us are huddled close to South Bend.

I do not want to put words into her mouth. Thus I would appreciate her thoughts.

Oh! Oh! –I had better say hyperbole alert.

Many of the key members of the GOP have already publicly admitted that they think that not passing the bill to raise the debt ceiling would be “economic armagedon that would cause a financial disaster of historic proportions both in America and across the world”

Yet at the same time they continue to behave like Hostage Takers, stating that unless the Dems bow down to their demands they will not pass the debt ceiling and destroy the lives of millions of Americans and ruin our economy.

The GOP has many faults, but wanting to destroy America or doing anything to seriously risk causing grave irreparable harm to our economy is not something that they would actually do.

That being said it is crazy to actually believe that no matter what there is no way enough members of the GOP would not vote to raise the debt ceiling and risk the consequences, so their threats are not valid.

I have started a PETITION to ask the Democrats to CALL THE GOP’s BLUFF and do not agree to any attachments on the debt ceiling bill. The petition asks the Democrats to pass a clean Debt Ceiling Bill, and send a message to the GOP that they will not give in to their threats and for them to threaten to harm America if their demands are not met is not what members of Congress do…its what terrorists and 2 bit thugs do

Please go to the link below and sign the petition and PLEASE forward it to everyone you know before it is too late.

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-the-democrats-not-to-negotiate-with-the-gop-on-the-debt-ceiling#comments

The comments to this entry are closed.

"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
More about Eric Zorn

Contributing editor Jessica Reynolds is a 2012 graduate of Loyola University Chicago and is the coordinator of the Tribune's editorial board. She can be reached at jreynolds at tribune.com.




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